1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the utilization of data processing systems for generating printed materials, and in particular to the utilization of data processing systems for generating printed copies of worldwide web pages.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Commercial use of the worldwide web (www) is likely to increase considerably as greater numbers of computer users subscribe to on-ramp and other service providers. The web is now widely regarded as the most important new frontier in advertising and marketing, principally due to the beneficial integration of text and graphics available through the web, and to the emergence of relatively low cost web browser software and plug-in software that facilitate searching, retrieving, and sorting of web materials, including the text and graphics.
However, the web is not likely to supplant entirely the use of printed advertising, promotional, proposal, and sales materials. Presently, the web does not readily accommodate such a commercial reality. A few web sites dually maintain a postscript duplication of the HTML file for the purpose of allowing printing by web users. Additionally, a few plug-in modules provide high quality printing formats which facilitate the printing of the HTML files.
The principal problem with both of these prior art approaches is that each assumes that every user wants the same document in exactly the same format and with the same contents. Currently, using a web browser, it is possible to dynamically build a custom document whose table of contents is defined (depending upon the particular browser) by a hot list file, a quick list file, or a bookmark file, etc. This list of bookmarks may reference remote data on the internet or local data on a drive or other memory media. However, this approach has two significant disadvantages: (1) printing documents is currently quite time-consuming, (2) the finished printouts lack continuity from one page to the next page, and (3) the images and text of the internet pages may be broken or separated, rendering the printed document unprofessional looking.